3/23/2009 @ 6:15PM

Why Zeebo Game Console Makes Sense

Remember that scheme to sell cheap laptops to children in the developing world? Well, think of this as one game console per child.

Wireless chip designer
Qualcomm
said Monday that it’s backing an effort from start-up Zeebo to build a gaming console for the developing world. And it’s not as weird as it sounds.

Zeebo will build the $199 console, which goes on sale in Brazil next month and is one-fifth the price of consoles sold there. (Zeebo is also backed by Tectoy SA, which will build the console in Brazil.) In other markets, Zeebo says it will sell the console for less than $179 this year and less than $149 next year.

The price tag, however, could be the least interesting part of this package. Far more intriguing is the fact that since the console is built around the Qualcomm MSM chip set used in mobile phones, console owners can buy games via wireless networks. That solves the piracy problem that has stymied efforts to sell games in the developing world for decades.

Better still, by making use of Qualcomm’s BREW application development environment, the console gets an instant base of developers already building games for handsets.
Activision
, Capcom, Com2uS, Digital Chocolate, EA Mobile,
Gameloft
,
Glu Mobile
, id Software, MachineWorks Northwest LLC, Namco Networks and
THQ
are all creating games for Zeebo.

The new console could be a classic case of a cheap, ubiquitous technology–in this case the technology powering the world’s handsets–moving up to disrupt an older market built around more mature technology. Consider how the once pokey personal computer eventually became the basis for powerful servers. “The original Playstation 2 has an installed base of between 140 and 150 million units. Qualcomm will do several orders of magnitude of that in chipsets alone in a single year,” says Mike Yuen, senior director of games and services at Qualcomm.

Yuen pitched the game console idea as part of the Qualcomm Innovation Network, a kind of in-house farm team for new business ideas. His idea got the go-ahead from Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs early last year.

Still, Zeebo will face tough competition. Sony‘s
last-generation console, the PlayStation 2, is still sold throughout the world as a low-cost alternative to its pricey PlayStation 3 console. Moreover,
Nintendo
,
Microsoft
and Sony have all cultivated legions of developers, giving buyers access to deep game catalogs.

Gaming bloggers are skeptical about whether consumers will buy the Zeebo console. “One positive note is that after it dies a quick death–let’s be honest, it’s up against Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo–is that it’ll be a cool thing to buy from eBay,” Faisal Alani wrote in ComputerWeekly.com Monday.

Time won’t tell if something like this will work. With mobile phones more ubiquitous than gaming consoles will ever be, it’s practically inevitable. The only question: Will Zeebo make it work first?